05/21/2013

Take the Christian Science Monitor's Poetry Test

I took this test last night. Wasn't easy. But if you've been reading poetry voraciously for decades, you'll probably do ok. I've been reading poetry voraciously only sporadically over the last 20 years so I only did so-so. If they would have thrown in a bonus question about The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I would have nailed it! (I won my Mary Tyler Moore Show Trivia Merit Badge in 1994, I'm proud to say).

This reminds me of my Name That Cher Tune test on Cher Scholar. I pick deep catalog snippets from the vaults of 40 albums and one single going back to 1964. One day a very flappable Cher fan wrote me an email (I wish I still had it) that said quite frankly, "You Bitch! This test is too f*$king hard!! Where are the new songs, bitch???" I remember telling him to calm down; if I made the quiz too easy, every sequined-loving kid out there would win it. He did calm down and we became fast Cher-friends.

Think about that when you're suddenly frustrated that you've never read any Wendell Berry (for no other reason than to have an online test validate your value as a mover and a shaker among poetry readers).